Video: Rockland sculptors create icy art for New Year’s Eve

Thursday

Dec 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMDec 31, 2009 at 3:47 PM

For more than 20 years, Rockland’s Ice Effects company has created ice sculptures for Boston’s First Night. This year, the sculptors are braving sub-zero wind chills to create a tribute to Boston’s Frog Pond and a replica of an Egyptian sculpture on display at the Museum of Fine Arts.

Amy Littlefield

Thanks to the wind, it feels like the temperature is below zero, yet sculptor Leon Roberge is pushing two blocks of ice together with his bare hands as he works on Boston Common. “You get used to (the cold),” Roberge said with a shrug.

Roberge and Steve Rose, the owner of the Rockland-based business Ice Effects, started sculpting when they worked for competing Boston hotels almost 30 years ago. Now, Ice Effects is participating in its 22nd First Night celebration.

The company is one of a handful of ice-sculpting groups lending artistic flair and coolness – literal and figurative – to Boston’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities.

“Every year we try to outdo what we did the year before,” Rose said Tuesday night. “This year we actually have two different sculptures going in the same area, so it’s kind of fun.”

The two creations sandwich the Frog Pond skating rink. One is a frog-themed tribute to the pond and its Tadpole Playground, and the other is a model of an ancient Egyptian sculpture on display at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

To create the sculptures, a team of about eight people works through the night, starting the day after Christmas.

“We’re night owls, so we usually come in about 4 or 5 and then we work right straight through until 4 or 5 in the morning,” Rose said.

Ice sculpting is a complex craft that involves tools ranging from chain saws to chisels. To make crystal-clear ice, Ice Effects uses a special water filtration system, then freezes the water to create 300-pound blocks. After the blocks are sliced, pieces are lowered into place using a forklift.

While the frigid weather that has hit the region is ideal for the ice, Rose said they are prepared for temperatures as high as 50. Even if the weather warms, the sculpture is big enough to survive – at least for a few days.

Asked what his favorite creations have been, Roberge said he can’t choose just one.

“We’ve done dragons,” he said. “The Pegasus last year was unbelievable.”

For sculptors like Rose and Roberge, enduring the wind chill is worth the smiles they bring to First Night revelers and kids who see the sculptures before and after New Year’s Eve.

“We’ve gotta be crazy, but we’re out here every single year,” Roberge said. “The kids love it. The little kids, when you see their eyes, they’re amazed at the big ice sculptures. It’s nice. It’s a lot of fun.”

Patriot Ledger writer Amy Littlefield may be reached at alittlef@ledger.com